Scarpa North America Blog

“Westward” A New Web Series About Making A Life In The Mountains.

Oct. 7th 2015

By SCARPA

Making a life in the mountains takes grit, determination, creativity, and a willingness to forge your own path. Produced by KGB Productions and supported by SCARPA, Flylow, and Rocky Mountain Underground, “Westward” is a new web series about skiers that have eschewed the traditional path of a stable job and a mortgage in a big city someplace in favor of Wyoming’s Teton Range.

Episode 4: Lynsey Dyer

At 22 years old Lynsey Dyer found herself at the beginning of a promising career; having recently graduated with a graphic design degree from Montana State, she had won a competitive internship with a design firm in Bozeman. But something didn’t feel right, she wasn’t happy. And so she walked away from it and took decidedly different course – competing on the Freeride World Tour and she won. Ten years later Lynsey has stood atop many more podiums, been featured in movies, been on the cover of magazines, produced a woman’s only ski film and designed her own line of skis.

Episode 3: Lars Chickering-Ayers

Growing up as the son of a ski patroller in Vermont’s Mad River Glen, the mountain was Lars Chickering-Ayers’ babysitter and skiing was in his blood. He cut his teeth on Mad River’s famous steeps and ice, but he made his mark with his signature fluid style and massive airs on the Freeride World Tour.He was driven to take his aggressive style deeper into the backcountry, but limited by equipment that was not designed to withstand his brand of skiing. So he took a few design courses and put his mind to developing a binding system that would meet his needs. Today, Lars and his brother Silas, have set a new standard in alpine touring with their company CAST Touring.

Episode 2: Dan Durkin

Dan Durkin was living the American Dream; a job with the State Department in Washington DC, followed by business school and a lucrative finance job on Wall Street. But to him, it never felt right and he was haunted by memories of snowcapped mountains, from his college years in Colorado. Then, on a whim he signed up for a Doug Coombs ski camp in La Grave and after spending time with someone who embodied the idea of living life to its fullest, he returned to the city with a clear path: he gave his notice at work, packed up his apartment and a month later had arrived in Jackson, WY.

Episode 1: Rob LaPier

Haling from upstate New York, Rob LaPier didn’t start skiing until he was nine years old, but as soon as he did, it was apparent to everyone around him that he had found his niche. After a brief stint at a college in Vermont, his mom saw that his heart wasn’t in it and encouraged him to go where the mountains are bigger. Two weeks later, Rob was living in Breckenridge, CO and skiing every day.

He pursued skiing with full devotion and with as much talent as anyone, got onto the podium of a couple free ride world tour stops and by most accounts was on the verge of greatness. But with injuries and bad luck, the life of a pro skier eluded him. As a way of being able to work on skis and continue to chase his dreams, Rob took a job in Jackson, WY as a free ride ski coach and along the way, realized that helping kids chase their dreams was as rewarding as chasing his own. Today, Rob is the director of the Jackson Hole Freeride Ski program.